It’s easy to get carried away with holiday decor. You’re in the holiday spirit, and one weekend after a couple mugs of adult eggnog, you decide to put up the tree and all the Christmas decorations. ALL of them.

Sure, it may be a tradition in your family to put up Aunt Martha’s faux Christmas wreath that’s been in the family one or two generations longer than it should have, but you can’t not put it out with the rest of the decor. I mean, that would just be insulting to poor Aunt Martha, right?

Wrong. Aunt Martha probably won’t care, and depending on how long you’ve had said Christmas wreath, she’d probably wonder why the heck you are still in possession of it.There is a way to properly decorate for the holidays. The key is to pick a couple of focal points for the room, and work around them.

For example, if you decide to make your 6′ Christmas tree and your fireplace mantel the focal point, you’ll use those points as your “decorative base” and add based upon those areas. Then you can sprinkle a few splashes of holiday color and cheer on the seating area (assuming this is a living room), such as decorative holiday themed pillows and throws.

Also, be careful with your color scheme. It might be fun to add every Christmas, or Holiday, themed color to your palette (aka the room) but it’s very harsh on the eyes and can be overwhelming.

When you purchase, or are picking out decorative items you already own, stick to 2-3 colors only; red and white, red and silver, red and green, or green, red, and white… just to name a few. Of course, if you’re more the non-traditional type of person, you may want to go with something a bit more funky, like purple and white, silver, or gold. Just stick to one funky color and the rest neutrals. Generally, the same goes for patterns.If you decide to put decorations on the mantel, stick to the Christmas stockings, and maybe a few other smaller things. Let’s not play a game called “Let’s cram as much Christmas stuff on the mantel as we can”… it’s not a fun game for anyone.